Mario Balotelli shows no sign of slowing down…in his car at least

Mario Balotelli could be hit by speeding sharges of up to €10,000 after reportedly collecting 18 separate offences in 2012 and 2013.

A court hearing on Wednesday was told that the 24-year-old Italy international was caught speeding on a number of occasions, including one incident of driving 200km per hour in a 130km zone.

According to a report in newspaper Corriere della Sera, Balotelli was stopped while driving in any number of his collection of sports cars including an Audi R8, a Porsche Spyder and a rented red Ferrari.

“Let’s say it was not trivial parking tickets,” said the prosecutor Vittorio Rigo.

Balotelli’s defence team claimed that the striker had never received any of the fines because he was living in England at the time. And of course, no one thought to forward the mail to his new address. Although, had the letters been marked ‘free money’ one can be sure they’d have found their way to the intended recipient.

“Mario was resident in England and the Italian police forces, in our view, had failed to notify the minutes of the violations, because he was living abroad,” they claimed.

Last month the Borussia Dortmund and Germany winger Marco Reus was fined more than €500,000 for repeatedly driving without a licence.